Posted on 04/07/2005 9:57:22 AM PDT by MisterRepublican
WHITEWATER - At the off-campus house Johnny Lechner shares with three other UW- Whitewater students, the stairway to his attic bedroom is lined with photos dating back to his freshman year.
Lechner has lost track of many of the buddies that posed with him at these long- ago fraternity parties and Homecoming parades. They have moved on to new lives - careers, wives, children, mortgages - and that's just not Lechner's scene.
"I could have - should have - graduated many years ago, but I keep passing on the real world's invitation," said Lechner, 28, who is in his 11th year as a student in the University of Wisconsin System, the last 10 at UW-Whitewater. He's taken a full course load every semester except the current one, in which he's taking seven credits.
Lechner has completed 234 college credits, about 100 more than needed to graduate and so many that he's now paying the so-called "slacker tax."
System students who exceed 165 total credit hours - or 30 more than their degree programs require, whichever is higher - pay double tuition. The Board of Regents instituted the surcharge this school year as a none-too-subtle hint that a state-subsidized education has its limits.
The slacker tax doubles full- time tuition at UW-Whitewater (12 to 18 credits) to $4,816 a semester. With the surcharge, Lechner is paying $2,810 per semester for his seven-credit load.
It is a measure of Lechner's campus notoriety that many classmates call the slacker tax "The Johnny Lechner Rule." While he doesn't mind being known as "that guy who has been in college forever," Lechner declines to take credit for the Regents' sweeping policy change.
(Excerpt) Read more at madison.com ...
Forgot to say her Mother is my sister and none of us have anything to do with her, tried for years and finally gave up, she wanted to micromanage our lives also and caused to many family problems it was unreal.
Read the whole article. He pays his own way (double the matriculation fees of other students because he has more credits than he needs to graduate).
No. The article says he's payed his own way and taken out loans since after the first two years of school (which were covered by his parents).
Taking out loans covered by mom n dad isnt paying your own way
Who does your sister share her income with to make them equal? If she doesn't have an income partner yet, please email me so I may send my info to you to pass along to her. She may as well be the one to get that "income equality" ball rollin'
As far as I can tell her interpretation of income equality is still in the theory stage rather than in actual practice. The moment she starts doling out the dollars, I'll holler. ;-)
"There's a time and a place for everything. And it's called college." - Chef
I wonder how much of any practical relevance the lad's actually learned during that stretch at U/W.
GI BILL lasts for 36 months. Or about 4 years of being enrolled in college classes. Everything else you said...free food, room and board, i would say is garbage. Maybe they got a tuition waiver and lived off the GI Bill, but thats about it.
That doesn't hurt either! But I suspect you must also be a caffeine achiever!
"I constantly pointed out to him that he needed to thank me for my tax dollars."
As long as you thanked him for his service, that's fine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.